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Can someone please tell me how to create a static library from a .cpp and a .hpp file? Do I need to create the .o and the .a? I would also like to know how can I compile a static library in and use it in other .cpp code. I have header.cpp, header.hpp . I would like to create header.a. Test the header.a in test.cpp. I am using g++ for compiling.

kristianp
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linuxx
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3 Answers3

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Create a .o file:

g++ -c header.cpp

add this file to a library, creating library if necessary:

ar rvs header.a header.o

use library:

g++ main.cpp header.a
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    g++ test.cpp header.a -o test,no? – linuxx May 10 '11 at 08:20
  • @linuxx only if you want to create an executable called `test`, something you should never do. Without the -o flag, an executable called a.out will be created. Us old Unix programmers like it that way. –  May 10 '11 at 08:26
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    @unapersson: Why? The executable is _not_ in `a.out` format so this is highly misleading. And why should you "never" create an executable called `test`? – Lightness Races in Orbit May 10 '11 at 08:28
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    @Tomalak Geret'kal: I guess this has to do with the fact that `test` is a system command. But since test programs usually never are installed in the system bin directory and require you to write `./test` it is not that much a problem to me either... – ereOn May 10 '11 at 08:31
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    @Tomalak Because test is a shell built-in and if you don't run the program explicitly as ./test (which you will inevitably fail to do) you will pick it up instead of your program, with extremely confusing results. And are you saying that the command does not produce an executable called a.out? –  May 10 '11 at 08:34
  • Anyway, the point is, you can call your output executable anything you like, or leave it as the default by omitting the `-o` parameter entirely. You are not bound by strict constructs that you might have been [poorly] taught at school, like "you must write `g++ A.cpp B.a -o A`". – Lightness Races in Orbit May 10 '11 at 08:36
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    @unapersson: No. I'm saying exactly what I said. Executables are no longer produced in `a.out` format, but the name remains for legacy reasons. (And if you're incapable of using a shell properly then that's your problem; I for one know how to run an executable from the current directory. `test` is _just fine_ for an executable name, as long as you're writing just a quick test snippet of course.) – Lightness Races in Orbit May 10 '11 at 08:39
  • @Tomalak Please point out where I said anything about "a.out format". An as someone who has trained literally hundreds of Unix programmers, I can assure you that test is not a good name. Now please find someone else to raise your non-issues with. –  May 10 '11 at 08:43
  • @unapersson: (a) You didn't. I'm pointing out a fact. Please look up the `a.out` format as you don't seem to know what it is. (b) You're painting your opinion as a fact, and one which many highly experienced professionals do not share. (c) You raised it. (d) I will not respond further to this conversation. – Lightness Races in Orbit May 10 '11 at 08:45
  • @Tomalak: It's how GCC and other *nix compilers have worked for years. They always output an `a.out` file, whether it's actually in a.out format or ELF or COFF. (On Windows, I think MinGW GCC actually outputs `a.exe`.) I'm not surprised Neil considers it irrelevant. – greyfade May 20 '11 at 22:49
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    @greyfade: You're completely right. They've worked that way for years. It's unfortunate that it's the case, because the `a.out` format is obsolete. Just because that's the default output filename isn't reason to prefer it. – Lightness Races in Orbit May 21 '11 at 00:17
  • @Tomalak: It's not `a.out` he suggested preferring. He seems quite explicit in preferring *not* using a name like `test`. – greyfade May 21 '11 at 15:22
  • @greyfade: His preference is to omit a name like `test`; perhaps I'm missing something, but his recommendation appears to be omitting the `-o` parameter, which produces an output file called `a.out`. – Lightness Races in Orbit May 21 '11 at 15:36
  • @Tomalak: My takeaway is that it's unimportant and unrelated to the question, and hence requiring no discussion. – greyfade May 21 '11 at 15:41
  • @greyfade: You may be right there. I thought it worth bringing up as a passing point, but I'm starting to regret that now. :) – Lightness Races in Orbit May 21 '11 at 15:51
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    Naming an executable `test` is something that I have learned the hard way to regret and I am "perfectly capable of using a shell". It is a bad idea, and I've seen it bite many others who are "perfectly capable of using a shell". – President James K. Polk Jan 03 '13 at 21:17
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    @JamesKPolk if you have `.` in your `$PATH` you will certainly regret *something* at one point or another. – n. m. could be an AI Oct 25 '18 at 05:57
  • @n.m. It's not about having `.` in your path, but rather the other way around. You run `test`, forgetting correctly run it as `./test`, and instead of getting `command not found` it simply returns without error (or output). – President James K. Polk Oct 25 '18 at 12:31
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You can create a .a file using the ar utility, like so: 

ar crf lib/libHeader.a header.o

lib is a directory that contains all your libraries. it is good practice to organise your code this way and separate the code and the object files. Having everything in one directory generally looks ugly. The above line creates libHeader.a in the directory lib. So, in your current directory, do: 

mkdir lib

Then run the above ar command.

When linking all libraries, you can do it like so: 

g++ test.o -L./lib -lHeader -o test

The -L flag will get g++ to add the lib/ directory to the path. This way, g++ knows what directory to search when looking for libHeader. -llibHeader flags the specific library to link.

where test.o is created like so: 

g++ -c test.cpp -o test.o
rogerdpack
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Sriram
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    and what is with lib/libHeader.a? ar rcs ...isn't it better than ar crf? – linuxx May 10 '11 at 08:19
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    @linuxx: main.o will be the object file you create out of main.cc – Sriram May 10 '11 at 08:19
  • @linuxx: the exact flags you use with the ar utility are your decision based on your requirements. Looking up the man pages for ar would be a good idea. – Sriram May 10 '11 at 08:27
  • how to test the library using test.cpp? – linuxx May 10 '11 at 08:29
  • Replace main in the above code with test and C with cpp. In other words, my main.C (that I have used for illustration) and your test.cpp are, in all likelihood, equivalent. – Sriram May 10 '11 at 08:32
  • Can you please tell me what is main.o? In my code i have header.cpp, header.h and the test.cpp(the code where i would like to test the header.a library). – linuxx May 10 '11 at 08:32
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    Wouldn't it be `-lHeader` instead of `-llibHeader` ? – Dolanor Nov 26 '12 at 10:32
  • This is a great answer and he have OP more than he asked for – Dan Apr 18 '18 at 16:05
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Can someone please tell me how to create a static library from a .cpp and a .hpp file? Do I need to create the .o and the the .a?

Yes.

Create the .o (as per normal):

g++ -c header.cpp

Create the archive:

ar rvs header.a header.o

Test:

g++ test.cpp header.a -o executable_name

Note that it seems a bit pointless to make an archive with just one module in it. You could just as easily have written:

g++ test.cpp header.cpp -o executable_name

Still, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that your actual use case is a bit more complex, with more modules.

Hope this helps!

Lightness Races in Orbit
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